Women health activists have urged the Government to make the draft Bill on surrogacy public so that a stronger law can be made to tackle the fast-growing commercialisation of this unregulated industry.

Innumerable clinics, surrogates, donors as well as a host of players providing medical, hospitality, legal and other services are mushrooming in the country without any regulation, said a release by Sama, a resource group for women & health.

Sama has urged the Health Ministry to include the widest possible opinion as the Bill in the present form is “inadequate in protecting and safeguarding the rights and health of women going for IVF techniques, recruited as surrogates and children born through commercial surrogacy.”

Most of the women offering themselves for surrogacy belong to the poorer sections of society and are roped in by unregulated third party agents, who play a pivotal role in arranging surrogates such as surrogacy agents, tourism operators and surrogacy homes operators.

Genetic surrogacy

The health activists said the Bill should permit genetic surrogacy, a simpler, less invasive form of surrogacy and not restrict to the more complicated, expensive and invasive gestational surrogacy.

Also, a robust mechanism should be developed to record and monitor the number of cycles undergone as well as the number of donations by any woman. In addition, the Bill should clearly list the various health risks and adverse outcomes of these technologies, Sama said.

Legal counsel

The women activists urged the Health Ministry to also mandate State-sponsored legal counsel for a surrogate to oversee the contract, its preservation and any legal contests on her behalf, adding that the pattern of payment and nature of insurance must be clearly stated in the best interests of the surrogate.

In fact, the Bill’s provisions should also emphasise adoption as a parallel option, Sama said.

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